And Death Shall Not Hold Him
by Lord of the Saiyans
Summary: In all the history of mankind, no one has returned from the dead. It is the ultimate equaliser, before whom both prince and peasant are the same. But someone has come back, with his cape and his sunglasses, just who the Hell do they think he is?


**Tale One: My final lesson to you**

The vivid emerald hue of Spiral Energy unleashed crackled as it danced from tree to tree, like a strange, many legged insect, seemed to hold a will of its own as it swayed and danced, tendrils of searing green energy licking the branches as they swayed in the storm. Lightening arched overhead and explosions filled the sky. A heavy wind tore at the defiant trees and the entire forest seemed to sway on cue as the epic confrontation continued.

You could be forgiven for thinking that it was the end of the world, rain fell in great, heavy downpours, flames rose from below, burningamongst the roots of the trees and reaching ever higher in a strange imitation of Spiral energy. Lightening was oddly defused in the ash-filled sky and still the explosions kept on, and on. Some of them were big enough to devour entire buildings, others so small that they seemed almost a parody of an explosion. The one constant was the emerald green flare that accompanied every explosion, throwing the night into a chaotic helter-skelter of dark red and green. Spiral Energy filled the valley up like a great wave, as though the ocean had descended in brilliant green and reclaimed that land that was once its.

The sound of battle filled up the air, interlaced by the faint thud of rain, the roar of thunder and the crackle of flames it was a most fitting sound track for this, most fitting of final battles.

Gurren Lagann burst from the cloud cover, rain drumming against its scarred, metal sides and running from its face like tears, it was trailing smoke, several deep gashes had been ripped in its side and its left arm was trailing limply. Inside Lagann, Simon worked desperately to reroute power and to channel his Spiral Energy in order to effect repairs but it was just no good, he couldn't do it anymore, he could barely pilot Gurren Lagann. Sympathetic pain pounded through his head as another volley of missiles slammed into him, the shock wave sending him flying, metal cracked and broke as he slammed into a nearby cliff-face.

_How can this be happening? _Simon wandered, dazed by the impact. _ Everything seemed so good, so right not too long ago. _ His hands were shaking as the held onto the controls and he felt the tears dripping down his cheeks. He felt empty, like a pit of despair had opened up beneath him. It reminded him of when Bro died... so long ago now, but the memories were as clear and painful as the day it happened. The sight of the life draining from Kamina's body, as he slumped drunkenly to the ground. And then, though nothing had changed, everything was different. He remembered Kamina's last words ''Don't believe in the me that believes in you, don't believe in the you that believes in me, believe in the you that believes in yourself." Typical, he ruminated grimly in the dark, the only illumination the faint emerald light given off by the Core-Drill, typical bro. But now those words rang empty in his ears as his hands shook at the controls and his faint Spiral Power flared weakly. He just couldn't go on like this, maybe...wouldn't it be best if he just stopped fighting?

Thunder screamed suddenly, lightening rolled and lit up by the sudden crack of yellow, his opponent. The ganman looked down at its fallen form, the levitation orb keeping it upright barely struggling. It dripped foul liquid, dark and sticky, its left hand held a a vivid red lance down at Simon, an unspoken threat from a foe unable to speak. The missile-boxes on its shoulders gave off a loud click that was lost in the audible pandemonium as they reloaded and twelve fresh, new missiles were now aiming at the broken form of Gurren Lagann.

Simon looked out through the cracked but still translucent screen that made up Lagann's head and saw oncoming death. He felt a ping of fear but it wasn't much, he'd felt so much terror lately that he was getting numb to it. Instead, he mostly felt a bitter acceptance, his shaking hands lowered from the controls as the missiles screamed into him.

The explosion demolished the cliff-face; it sent great chunks of rock and metal flying, ploughing down into the fire-kissed earth below, ripping great wounds into the earth and forest, and even, temporarily, the flame, before it closed back in on them like a curtain. Gurren Lagann had been blasted farther into the massive crater now adorning the cliff face, it was even worse for wear. Its trademark sunglasses had all but been shattered, it had lost both legs and its arms was screwy. Simon couldn't have moved now if he tried.

Inside Lagann, it was dark and cold, as if the life was being drained from Gurren Lagann by some cursed parasite. Simon knew that the next attack would finish him off, he sighed, his only regret that Lagann and Gurren would die along with him. His hands were by his side now, his eyes closed. _ I'm sorry Bro, I just wasn't strong enough. _ The images passed through his head now, in his last seconds alive he saw the faces of everyone he had been unable to save, _Yoko, Rossiu, Bro, Leeron, Viral, Boota, Nia. Gimmy, Darry. I don't deserve to live. _ The other faces seemed to press in on him then, all the millions who had died in the last few days as the virus overran the world, so many people had trusted him to save them the way he always had, but this time he couldn't. He'd tried, God how he'd tried but the weight, as slowly, all his friends and allies had died simply crushed his spirit slowly. As each of the men and women he had known for so long fought and died by his side, he had been helpless to prevent it, and a part of him had died with them. Hot-bloodedness, the refusal to accept defeat, once such vital components of Simon now were but faded memories as he faced his final battle.

The Ganmen descended through the heavens slowly, dramatically, lightening played about its yellow body, and the veins of Anti-Spiral black that spread over and corrupted the original body. Cracks in the original armour showed a rocky substance, like those weird faces that they had fought and bested so long ago, but if you focused and if the light was playing just right, you could see what the Ganman had been before it fell to the legacy of the Anti-Spirals. And the very sight of it twisted a knife in his gut as he looked up.

_King Kittan. _ He felt bitterness well up in the back of his throat Kittan - or what was left of his half-dead, lobotomised mind, pointed the lance once more, there was another _click! _and this time, Simon did hear it. It was the sound of oncoming death.

In his last few seconds, Simon wandered if he could have ended this sooner, if he could have won, maybe if they'd known the Anti-Spirals had infected Kittan with a strange virus they could have cured him before it brainwashed him, or maybe afterwards if they could have found it within themselves to destroy King Kittan when it was still a simple Ganman rather than what it was now, an eldtritch combination of Spiral-powered machine and Anti-Spiral technology. It shouldn't exist and that was slowly ripping it apart, as the Spiral and Anti-Spiral sections fought a war even as the whole machine and its fallen kin battled the combined armies of mankind led by the single ''pure'' instance of the virus. Simon blamed himself - after Yoko's death they should have known that there was no way to save Kittan. They might still have been able to salvage the core of the Graprearl forces from the mutation. As it was, the best they could do was move the survivors to the last hold outs and wait for the end. Simon knew who was to blame for this, who would be bearing the hatred of mankind for the brief time that they had left to them. It was he. Simon who had fought the Anti-Spirals, Simon who had bested Lordgenome. Simon who had failed against an obsolete Ganman and indirectly doomed the world.

King Kittan lurched backwards as the combined kick of its rockets launching exerted enough force to compensate for its forward thrust, twelve missiles loaded with the best explosives that the Anti-Spirals could ever make roared as they streaked through the raining sky, aimed directly for Lagann. Simon wanted to close his eyes and await the end, but some small part of him bucked at that and he remembered a quote from Kamina, told to him long ago. _''Simon, if you ever think you're gonna die in a fight, always look into the eyes of the man who kills you. A real man never accepts defeat no matter what, and even if the best victory you can get is to show that your spirit isn't crushed then you should take it.''_

So Simon glared at the oncoming missiles, it took them not even a second as they flashed through the air, the trail of their thrusters a red-yellow blur of light and sound.

Suddenly, a bright light swept the path of the missiles and they detonated with a shriek and a shower of shrapnel, Gurren Lagann rocked and juddered, but there was little real damage done. King Kittan turned angrily, its lance poised to strike at the newcomer who had interrupted its kill, rising from the burning forest below was a Ganman, red in colour, it seemed to reflect the dancing, flickering flames as it rose.

Powered by two levitation orbs of the kind that Gurren Lagann made use of, the red Ganmen stopped as it came between the beaten Spiral mech and the corrupted Ganman. It looked...strangely like he'd seen it before, but Simon had no clue where that had been.

It looked like someone had made extensive modification to its original form, but Simon could still see the red body, the long limbs. _ No way, _he thought, watching it rise into the air between himself and Kittan.

Suddenly, a transmission cut through Gurren Lagann's com, a strong voice he'd never thought to hear again boomed up in his ear, making him jump like a startled child.

" What the Hell, Simon? I thought I taught you better than this."

" B-bro?" He blurted out, momently side-tracked by the unexpected turn of events.

The Ganmen drew a pair of sunglasses from somewhere and put them on its yellow-glowing eyes, it struck a poise in mid-air so very much like bro that even in his current dire situation, Simon cracked a smile.

" Damn right it is, and what did I teach you Simon? A real man never surrenders, not even in the face of the end of the world. Stand your ground, never give an inch and never surrender. That's what I taught you, Simon. That's how team Dai-Gurren rolls."

The mention of Team Dai-Gurren reminded him of all the faces he would never see again and Simon lowered his head, " Bro, there's no team Dai-Gurren anymore, there's no one left but me and you."

" Nonsense," said Kamina, " As long as we're both alive, the burning spirit of team Dai-Gurren can never die. Remember that, Simon, that flame that we held deep in our hearts grew from a tiny little spark, and it blossomed into a raging inferno; that flame, that spark is still with us, in you, in me, in all mankind! As long as we're still around, the soul of team Dai-Gurren lives on. " 

King Kittan roared and lunged forwards suddenly, its lance aiming right for Kamina's ganman's face, Kamina dodged to the side so fast he seemed to blur, the lethal blade missed him by inches, and for a second, the red face of Kamina's machine, and King Kittan's own corrupted features met and locked, there was a flash of recognition then, from the twisted remains of Kittan's brain. He swung left suddenly, the blade flashing as its energy field ripped into the red-armoured form of the Gurren look-alike, sparks danced along it as it cut deeply into the armour, suddenly there was an explosion and the twin war-machines were obscured from view.

" Bro!" Chocked Simon, struggling in futility with the controls, but then the voice of his mentor broke through the static of the explosions.

" Its OK Simon, this guy could never put me down."

The smoke cleared, Kamina had grabbed onto the blade now lodged in his lower chest, very near the cockpit, Simon noticed, it was a risky move. It was also stereotypically Kamina. King Kittan tugged with all its might but it couldn't budge the lance now firmly embedded in its foe.

Kamina's voice blurred to life again, this time on a general channel for everyone to hear.

" So, you think you can just kill the Dai-Gurren Brigade and take over the world eh? Well clean out your ears 'cus I have news for you! Its not that simple. You kill my friends? You beat my bro and kill innocent people? That's just too bad for you, 'cus now you've attracted the attention of a true paragon of manliness. That male idol, that perfect ideal of true masculinity, you've drawn the attention of the one and only Kamina! Founder of team Dai-Gurren, the single most badass human ever to pilot a Ganman! And what a Ganman, you face the most deadly pair ever to walk the Earth, the mighty Kamina and his trusty Ganman, Gurren X!"

" Gurren X?" Murmured Simon, watching the exchange, that explained why it looked so much like Gurren then, it was the same model. But what did Bro mean when he said the most deadly pair ever to walk the Earth?

King Kittan roared, a twisted mix of metallic and biological sounds, its missile boxes refilled again, but before it could fire, Kamina had drawn a curved blade, a giant mirror of his own old blade, it glowed with an emerald light as he slashed with it, cutting through King Kittan's reinforced armour like it was nothing.

The King Kittan crumpled, a glowing gash bisecting it, it bled a dark fluid, pouring out of it like blood in such a quantity that it was almost as though Kamina had severed an artery. The corrupted Ganman managed one last roar as it fell away, smashing into the ground below them with a wet thump.

" Bro," Simon said, amazed, " You killed him so easily."

Gurren X watched it for a second, waiting for it to get up, then turned to Simon, Kamina's voice was hard and for a second he seemed like someone totally different.

" Kittan would have wanted it this way, that thing was a disgrace to his memory. He's far better off now."

Gurren X held out a hand, grabbing Gurren Lagann and ready to pull it out of the crater it had formed, suddenly there was a blast of light so intense that Simon was blinded for a second, the force sent Gurren Lagann tunnelling into the mountainside again and all Simon could do was cry out in horror.

"BRO!"

The light cleared and Gurren Lagan fell, smashing into the ground with a thud, Simon endured the pain and the warning lights that flashed, _Got to move, _he thought, _got to help bro! _But he couldn't move and not for the first time, he cursed the deep depression that had settled onto him since the whole sordid mess began. Simon took his first look at the battlefield and gasped, his breath friezing in his lungs, the whole area, forest, mountain, rivers, had been obliterated by the blast, Simon guessed that he'd only taken so little damage because Bro shielded him from it. It'd been after Bro, not him.

The great crater loomed out in front of him, it seemed to go on for miles, a massive yawning hole that told of incredible power channelled into a single attack against a single target, Simon looked around wildly, but there was no sign of Kamina. " No," he said feeling a black hole open in his gut, all feelings draining from him.

" No, no NO!"

A figure strode through the wreckage, a dark humanoid, oozing blood and slime, Simon vaguely recognised, it _Lazengann_. He'd seen Lazengann once, after the infection, it had been one of the first to fall, all its great power corrupted and increased by several hundred times, it was the lord of the infected, unlike the other mechs who had absorbed some poor human bastard, Lazengann was pure, the seat of the virus's power. _It must be in constant contact with all the others, _Simon belatedly realized,_ And it came to kill Bro when he started to fight King Kittan... _Simon growled, here was the source of everything that had went wrong! Here was the virus made manifest, made flesh, metal, bone and blood. Here was the target he could strike back against, a powerful rage descended upon him now as he looked upon the bloodied features of the black Ganman, the faces of all those he would never again see or touch or speak to filled his mind, this time, his despair was pierced, the burning torrent of rage lighting up his inner darkness.

" AAARGHHHH!"

Gurren Lagann leapt into action,, wounds repairing in an instant as once more, pure, undiluted Spiral energy pumping around it in tune with Simon's heart, each beat a pulse of power, each pulse a beat of the heart, the mech and man became one, one being. Simon surged forwards with a power he had not felt since he defeated the Antispirals.

Lazengann looked over at him and gestured, the force of a supernova slammed into him, throwing him back as Simon screamed in sympathetic pain, agony pounded his head and he slipped and fell, Gurren Lagann's new-found power vanishing, it was tossed into the air by the shockwave, slamming down again with a thud and a burst of agony.

Simon looked up in time to see the black drill slam into Lagann, and that would have been the end if not at that moment, a humming crescent of Spiral energy ripped the drill apart. Simon gasped, Lazengann spun round to face its new enemy.

The red-clad figure of Gurren X walked steadily out of the clearing smoke, it was scratched, burned, covered in gouges but it moved with a fluid motion and its blade glinted, pure and unharmed.

"What did I tell you?" Kamina growled, " You've drawn my attention and I alone will be the one to destroy you."

Lazengann turned with a roar and a barrage of oil-black drills screamed through the air, dripping foul liquids they sped for Gurren X, but two missile pods emerged from the red mecha's soldiers and let loose, brilliant bursts of Spiral missiles meeting the dark drills head on. They collided and exploded with enough force to crack the ground, before the smoke had even cleared, the two foes were charging, Kamina's blade glinting in the light, Lazengann's drills sharp and thirsty for blood.

The ground cracked and groaned under their feet as the two titanic war-machines charged, they met in the middle of the grand crater, Kamina's blade slashed, moving light lightening it curved a light gash across Lazengann's chest, dark liquid spilled like blood, but Lazengann ploughed a pointed fist into Gurren X's chest, emerald sparks spat and hissed at the contact, Gurren slammed a kick into its side sending it flying. Simon's breath caught in his throat as Kamina raised his sword and leapt, cutting the ground in two as Lazengann barely moved in time, a drill emerged from its chest and slammed into Gurren X, but Kamina sliced it in two with a clean blow from the sword. Another shot from Lazengann's hand. Kamina dodged one and cut at the other, but two more drills emerged from the corrupted mech's back and slammed into Gurren X, drilling through red armour and impaling it.

Kamina just had time to scream as a powerful energy wave was transmitted through the drills into the body of Gurren X, it flexed and jerked, the mighty sword dropping from its numb hands. Kamina's scream was tinged with pain and Simon realized with horror that Lazengann was infecting a new victim. Now, Kamina would be just like Kittan, his mind dead, his body a final tool of revenge for the Antispirals.

Gurren Lagann stood tall again, Simon's desperation allowing him to move with a speed he didn't think he possessed, running towards the confrontation, his fist sprouted drills as he prepared to end this madness at the source.

" Simon."

Simon halted, Bro's voice was filled with pain as the virus overtook his body, but Gurren moved slowly, not trying to escape Lazengann's grip but actually moving closer, the drills digging deep into it.

" Simon," Kamina said, his voice firm despite the pain, " This is my final lesson to you, never surrender, never give up, fight on until the end and never think that you're gonna lose! Lazengann, let me show you the true power of the Spiral Race! Gurren Overload!"

There was a vivid burst of emerald and Simon was almost blinded, for half a second, he saw two great forces of light battling, one dark as the night and the other emerald and brilliant, outlined in the light the two mechs. Gurren took one step forwards, Lazengann's drills simply dissolving in the energy that ripped and tore around them in savage gusts, Gurren took another step and raised a fist, Lazengann shot five more drills into Gurren, the red mech stumbled back but Kamina's voice was strong and mighty.

" Try to kill humanity? Kill my friends? Remember Simon, that tiny spark burns in us all, make it life again, let it grow until its a great inferno, team Dai-Gurren will live again."

The fist slammed down into Lazengann and Simon saw a great burst of light and felt a sharp increase in heat as Lazengann crumpeled to the ground with a scream, ripped in two by the sheer power of the attack.

The light faded and all Simon saw was a battered mech just barely standing. Gurren X fell to the ground with a slow, gracefull motion and a figure emerged from its open mouth, Bro brushed some dirt off his cape and smiled and suddenly, for a short time, everything was right with the world again.

He helped Simon out of Gurren Lagann and in the crater, before the broken form of the lord of the corrupted mecha, the two heroes spoke, Simon told Kamina of all the time spent fighting, the ever growing threat of the virus, Kamina listened.

" You know this isn't the end, right?" He said, " There will be more of the infected, the people need you, Simon."

Simon nodded, " Yeah, and I think that this time I can finally give them what they need, after I saw Team Dai-Gurren die I...I was in a bad place, Bro, but then you arrived, right when I needed you most. I never thought I'd see you again."

Kamina smiled, " Idiot, as though the great Kamina would let his little bro face down that kind of firepower on his own."

" What about you Bro?" Simon asked, " How'd you get here right when I needed you? You were dead." 

Kamina nodded, " Right, I was. Its hard to explain but one day I just knew that I was needed, so I fought my way out."

Simon couldn't help but smile at his bro's speech, " You fought your way out of being dead?"

" Yep."

Well, if any human could do that, it would be Kamina.

"So you came to help me?" 

" Well...not exactly. I helped Simon, a different Simon. See, turns out there's all these universes out there." He reached up to the sky, " A million different dimensions all slightly different, and I travel them, one day I'll see 'em all." 

His face had taken on the same look as the one he'd worn when one day, long ago, he had talked about the moon and the stars.

" One day, I'll see every universe that there is, but sometimes I run across bad ones... where things didn't go well. You know, maybe that big Ganmen killed me early in the village, or maybe the Antispirals weren't beaten or the moon not stopped from slamming into the Earth. When that happens I can't just sit back and go away, can I? What would everyone think of the Great Kamina if I didn't help out when I found somewhere that really needed it?"

" So you travel dimensions helping fight where things aren't going well, bringing hope to those who lost their own long ago? That sounds just like you, Bro."

Kamina couldn't help it; his face split into a massive grin as he looked at his little Bro, now taller than him.

" Yep, and you wouldn't believe some of the weird stuff I've seen."

The two talked for the rest of the day, Simon revealing more of his life and Kamina telling him of all the strange and wonderful sights he had bore witness to, sometimes they laughed and sometimes they listened to each other intently. At length, the sky became tinged with the red that signified mourning and Kamina stood up, the new light revealed several new scars that Simon hadn't noticed, Kamina saw him looking at them.

" Sometimes fights get a lot closer than normal," he explained, " but that's what makes a real man. Listen Simon I've gotta go now. I can't stay in one place too long without becoming stuck there and needing to use a lot of power to get myself unstuck, remember what I taught you, earlier in life and today. You're the last member of team Dai-Gurren, keep that flame alive, spread it, one day, Earth will rise again as a Spiral civilization."

Simon nodded, every fibre of his being wanting his Bro to stay longer but knowing that he couldn't, the harsh reality was pressing in on him now, with the dawning of the new sun, the realization that the war wasn't over. He would fight like he had never fought before, but even then victory was not assured. It would be a very long time before the remnants of mankind became anything approaching a civilization, never mind a Spiral civilization.

Kamina climbed into the open mouth of Gurren X and the beaten mech stood up slowly, Simon was somewhat concerned that it wouldn't last much longer but Kamina just laughed.

" No worries, little Bro. This thing is one of the most high-tech Ganmen ever created, give it a few days and it'll be as good as new." 

He turned but before he left he said one last thing.

" Simon that drill is your soul, never forget that. Its yours and yours alone, use it to carry on the mantle of the Dai-Gurren Brigade. I trust you, my brother, whatever you do next, I know you'll be able to pull through."

That said, Gurren X launched itself into the air and vanished with a flash of emerald energy and a pop of displaced air.

" I will, bro," Simon said looking out across the vast crater that marked the grave of the most powerful of all the infected. " I will."

To be continued...

Author's Note:

For those of you who haven't figured it out yet, this Simon is not canon Simon, I thought I'd get this out there before I got a dilluge of replies going ''Simon would kick that guys ass! Kittan died in the series! Lazengann was destroyed!'' etc.

This is an alternative universe setting but canon Kamina. This first chapter is a self-contained ( But short) story in its own right, basically I'm using it to test the waters and see what type of reception this fic gets. If its good, I'll probably update it with new versions of the TTGLverse with canon Kamina travelling between them. It'd be pretty awesome to be able to do twists on canon TTGL and I think that you, the readers, will enjoy them as much as I do.


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